Ahmeti previously did not want to even think about it, but now he is ready for elections without the opposition
On a journalistic question: “Are you ready to take part in the elections without the opposition?” DUI’s leader Ali Ahmeti in January answered:
I would not want to think in that direction, because we all have to act together and as I said at the beginning, we should place the state’s interests above the parties’ interests and to make efforts for consensual solution.
[Source: A1 on (from 2:28 to 2:57 in the video) Date: 16 January 2016]
EXPLANATION:
On 16 January 2016, after the end of one of the leader meetings in Przhino, when the possibility of postponing the election date set out in the Przhino Agreement was discussed, the leader of the Democratic Union for Integration during the journalist briefing stated that he would not want to even consider participating in elections without the opposition.
It was a dynamic meeting with various opinions and debates. DUI called for abidance of the Agreement from 2 June and the Protocol from 15 July and also for respect to all that we achieved from the Agreement so far. The state’s interests should be placed above the parties’ interests. Unfortunately we did not reach a consent to implement the item from Przhino Agreement related to the election date. Three political parties gave the consent to respect what is agreed in the Agreement. One of the parties did not give the consent regarding the election date and we basically believe that consensual solution is the right solution for such issues. Ahmeti stated. (from 0:00 to 2:03 from the video)
On the journalistic question: “Are you going to take part in the elections without the opposition?” (from 2:16 to 2:20 from the video) Ahmeti decisively answered:
I would not want to think in that direction . (from 2:28 to 2;33 from the video)
The snap election date, 24 April 2016, was postponed for 5 June 2016, after the opposition party SDSM requested date postponement due to the lack of conditions for holding the elections and after the international community gave the same assessment.
On 24 February 2016, DUI’s MPs submitted a proposal to the Parliament for changing the self-dissolution decision, and the self-dissolution decision was voted by the ruling majority. This move postponed the Parliament’s dissolution for the 7 April and the election date for 5 June.
Trajko Veljanoski, the Parliament’s Speaker, announced the dissolution and informed that on April 15th he will officially announce the elections that will be held on 5 June 2016.
After this move, SDSM’s leader Zoran Zaev announced on a press conference that his party will boycott the elections.
After SDSM’s boycott decision, DUI’s leader, Ali Ahmeti, in an interview given in “The road towards” on “Alsat M” TV station on 8 April 2016, stated that his party will take part in the elections and called Zoran Zaev to “reconsider for the wellbeing of the country and his party as well”.
They should not exclude themselves, yet they have to be part of the process due to the fact that neither SDSM nor their voters will have benefit, Ahmeti said.
Having in mind his change of heart, we can freely say that Ahmeti’s aforementioned statement, which is the subject of this assessment, is inconsistent.
SOURCES:
- А1 on (16.01.2016) Ахмети: Не сакам да помислам на избори без опозицијата (Accessed on: 10.04.2016)
- Kapital (15.07.2015) Интегрален текст од Договорот од Пржино (Accessed on: 10.04.2016)
- Plusinfo ( 29.01.2016) Заев: Нема услови за избори на 24 април (Accessed on: 10.04.2016)
- Telegraf (21.02.2016) Амбасадорите дадоа оцена: Нема услови за избори на 24 април, 5 јуни е можен датум (Accessed on: 10.04.2016)
- Pravdiko (24.02.2016) Собранието го одложи самораспуштањето за 7 април- избори на 5 јуни (Accessed on: 10.04.2016)
- Meta (06.04.2016) Вељаноски го распушти Собранието, избори на 5 јуни (Accessed on: 10.04.2016)
- Fokus ( 06.04.2016) СДСМ ќе ги бојкотира изборите (Accessed on: 10.04.2016)
- TV 21 (08.04.2016) Ахмети: ДУИ ќе учествува на изборите на 5 јуни (Accessed on: 10.04.2016)
Assessed by: Ana Anastasovska
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